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The 1 Sunday Times and International Bestseller from 'the most influential public intellectual in the Western world right now' (New York Times) 'Everyone must read 12 Rules For Life ... The most enlightening book I have read in ages' Chris EvansAcclaimed psychologist Jordan Peterson has become one of the most influential public thinkers to emerge on the world stage for many years, with his lectures on topics from the Bible to romantic relationships to mythology drawing an unprecedented following of tens of millions of viewers. In an era of unprecedented change and polarizing politics, his frank and refreshing message about the value of individual responsibility has resonated powerfully around the world. In this 1 international bestseller, he provides twelve profound and practical principles for how to live a meaningful life, from setting your house in order before criticising others to comparing yourself to who you were yesterday, not someone else today. Drawing on vivid examples from Peterson's clinical practice and personal life, cutting edge psychology and philosophy, and lessons from humanity's oldest myths and stories, 12 Rules for Life offers a deeply rewarding antidote to the chaos in our lives: eternal truths applied to our modern problems. Read more
Publisher : Random House Canada
Publication date : January 1, 2018
Edition : First Edition
Language : English
Print length : 407 pages
ISBN-10 : 0241351634
ISBN-13 : 35
Item Weight : 1.76 pounds
Dimensions : 6.3 x 1.18 x 9.45 inches
Book 1 of 2 : 12 Rules for Life
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Top Amazon Reviews
This book provides an antidote to the cultural divide that’s destroying the West. It’s kryptonite to shoddy social justice warrior “thinking,” and the bane of Postmodern Neo-Marxist rot in academia. But more than anything, it is clear, straightforward advice for living a meaningful life. Don’t let the trendy title fool you. If this is self-help, then it’s self-help with a hammer. Here’s the core message of 12 Rules for Life: life is suffering, but you can get through it if you get your shit together, tell the truth, fix the things you’re able to fix, and make yourself strong. Think that sounds trivial? Try doing it for a week. I love Peterson’s focus on the individual. I’ve always been suspicious of group-level solutions, or the idea that you can only be happy or fulfilled if society changes. Focusing on the individual is a lot more satisfying, and the results are better too. After all, if you can’t sort yourself out, what makes you think you can fix the world, or remake Western culture? It’s an incredibly arrogant assumption. Maybe, just maybe, the root of all your problems isn’t global capitalism, or the evil patriarchy, or beliefs about invented genders. Perhaps it’s actually a lot closer to home. You can spend your time badgering, nagging or forcing someone else to do something — the Indirect approach — or you can look for actions you can take right now to improve your life. The direct approach puts YOU firmly in control of your own destiny, but it also requires you to assume responsibility for yourself. And that’s another key concept in 12 Rules. Peterson urges his readers to take on as much responsibility as they can handle, rather than whine about “rights” and entitlements. So how should you begin? Start by sorting yourself out. Look at the problems in your own life or in your own immediate environment. Choose one that you can fix, and fix it. Then chose another. It can be something as simple as cleaning your room. In doing this, you’re bringing order to the chaos around you. It’s amazing how those small actions ripple outward to improve the lives of everyone around you. Peterson’s message is also refreshing because it’s the opposite of the currently accepted paradigm that equates male virtue with being weak and harmless. If being strong, productively aggressive, and able to fight for what’s right is somehow regarded as “toxic masculinity,” then it’s probably a good time to question the core agenda of those who are pushing such a simplistic and emasculating concept. Dr. Peterson rose to prominence in Canada during a bizarre political debate on made up gender pronouns and compelled speech, not because he was an alt-right voice of hate, but because he stood up and spoke his truth in clear, logical terms. What happened since then — the massive youtube following, the sold-out lectures, repeat appearances on international podcasts and television — is testament to the power of the Logos, the Word. I first encountered his work a year or two before that controversy, through the brilliant Maps of Meaning lectures he posted on Youtube. I went on to watch his University of Toronto Personality course too, and everything he’s produced since, because it is so relevant to my life. There is no wishful thinking here, or New Age snivelling, or back-patting. 12 Rules for Life is funny and engaging, but dense with ideas based on hard science, research-derived psychological data, and the continuous centuries-long narrative that humans have transmitted through story and culture as a way to survive and thrive in a frightening world. Dr. Peterson’s most recent effort was a public lecture series exploring the psychological significance of the Biblical stories. As an atheist who spent far too much time stewing in Sunday boredom as a child, trapped in church while my dad watched John Wayne movies at home, I was extremely skeptical of this. As a writer, an anthropology graduate, and a reader of Jung, Nietzsche and the Western Canon, I soon found myself mesmerized. His explanations of the ancient Biblical stories made sense. And even better, it made them useful whether or not I subscribe to a deity. All of this is a roundabout way of saying why you should read 12 Rules for Life, and why I will be reading it again and again. This is not a lightweight book. It’s valuable. It’s meaningful. And it will cause you to look at the world and your life a little differently than you did before.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2018 by Ryan Murdock
Format: Kindle
Jordan Peterson is a beacon of light in this chaotic world, a psychologist whose writing combines science and common sense. One of his talents is his ability to articulate complex ideas to a wide audience. Regardless of whether you have a background in psychology or not, you will understand this book. It covers his twelve rules for life, which are intended not only as a guide for life of the individual, but as a remedy for society’s present ills. Peterson believes that the cure for society starts with curing the individual, the smallest unit of society. Peterson’s well-known advice to clean your room is a reflection of the truth that if you can’t even manage the most basic and mundane responsibilities of life, then you have no business dictating to others how to fix society. One of the main themes of this book is: Personal change is possible. There's no doubt you can be slightly better today than you were yesterday. Because of Pareto's Principle (small changes can have disproportionately large results), this movement towards the good increases massively, and this upward trajectory can take your life out of hell more rapidly than you could believe. Life is tragic and full of suffering and malevolence. But there's something you can start putting right, and we can't imagine what good things are in store for us if we just fix the things that are within our power to do so. The 12 Rules for Life: In Peterson’s own words, it’s 12 rules to stop you from being pathetic, written from the perspective of someone who himself tried to stop being pathetic and is still working on it. Peterson is open about his struggles and shortcomings, unlike many authors who only reveal a carefully curated façade. Rule 1: Stand up straight with your shoulders back. People have bad posture, and the meaning behind it can be demonstrated by animal behaviors. Peterson uses the example of the lobster. When a lobster loses a fight, and they fight all the time, it scrunches up a little. Lobsters run on serotonin and when he loses, levels go down, and when he wins, levels go up and he stretches out and is confident. Who cares? We evolutionarily diverged from lobsters 350 million years ago, but it’s still the same circuit. It’s a deep instinct to size others up when looking at them to see where they fit in the social hierarchy. If your serotonin levels fall, you get depressed and crunch forward and you’re inviting more oppression from predator personalities and can get stuck in a loop. Fixing our posture is part of the psycho-physiological loop that can help you get started back up again. Rule 2: Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping. People often have self-contempt whether they realize it or not. Imagine someone you love and treat well. You need to treat yourself with the same respect. Take care of yourself, your room, your things, and have respect for yourself as if you’re a person with potential and is important to the people around you. If you make a pattern of bad mistakes, your life gets worse, not just for you, but for the people around you. All your actions echo in ways that cannot be imagined. Think of Stalin’s mother and the mistakes she made in life, and how the ripple effects went on to affect the millions of people around him. Rule 3: Choose your friends carefully. It is appropriate for you to evaluate your social surroundings and eliminate those who are hurting you. You have no ethical obligation to associate with people who are making your life worse. In fact, you are obligated to disassociate with people who are trying to destroy the structure of being, your being, society’s being. It’s not cruel, it’s sending a message that some behaviors are not to be tolerated. Rule 4: Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today. You need to improve, and you may even be in real bad shape, but many unfairly compare themselves to some more seemingly successful person. Up till around age 17, random comparisons to other people can make sense, but afterwards, especially age 30+, our lives become so idiosyncratic that comparisons with others become meaningless and unhelpful. You only see a slice of their life, a public facet, and are blind to the problems they conceal. Rule 5: Don't let children do things that make you dislike them. You aren't as nice as you think, and you will unconsciously take revenge on them. You are massively more powerful than your children, and have the ability and subconscious proclivity for tyranny deeply rooted within you.If you don't think this is true, you don't know yourself well enough. His advice on disciplinary procedure: (1) limit the rules. (2) use minimum necessary force and (3) parents should come in pairs.It's difficult and exhausting to raise children, and it's easy to make mistakes. A bad day at work, fatigue, hunger, stress, etc, can make you unreasonable. Rule 6: Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world. Life is tragic and there's malevolence. There's plenty to complain about, but if you dwell on it, you will become bitter and tread down a path that will take you to twisted places. The diaries of the Columbine killers are a chilling look into minds that dwelled on the unholy trinity of deceit, arrogance, and resentment) . So instead of cursing the tragedy that is life, transform into something meaningful. Start by stop doing something, anything, that you know to be wrong. Everyday you have choices in front of you. Stop doing and saying things that make you weak and ashamed. Do only those things that you would proudly talk about in public. Rule 7: Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient). Meaning is how you protect yourself against the suffering that life entails. This means that despite the fact that we’re all emotionally wounded by life, we’ve found something that makes it all worthwhile. Meaning, Peterson says, is like an instinct, or a form of vision. It lets you know when you’re in the right place, and he says that the right place is midway between chaos and order. If you stay firmly ensconced within order, things you understand, then you can’t grow. If you stay within chaos, then you’re lost. Expediency is what you do to get yourself out of trouble here and now, but it comes at the cost of sacrificing the future for the present. So instead of doing what gets you off the hook today, aim high. Look around you and see what you can make better. Make it better. As you gain knowledge, consciously remain humble and avoid arrogance that can stealthily creep on you. Peterson also says to be aware of our shortcomings, whatever they may be; our secret resentments, hatred, cowardice, and other failings. Be slow to accuse others because we too conceal malevolent impulses, and certainly before we attempt to fix the world. Rule 8: Tell the truth—or, at least, don't lie. Telling the truth can be hard in the sense that it’s often difficult to know the truth. However, we can know when we’re lying. Telling lies makes you weak. You can feel it, and others can sense it too. Meaning, according to Peterson, is associated with truth, and lying is the antithesis of meaning. Lying disassociates you with meaning, and thus reality itself. You might get away with lying for a short while, but only a short time. In Peterson’s words “It was the great and the small lies of the Nazi and Communist states that produced the deaths of millions of people.” Rule 9: Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don't. A good conversation consists of you coming out wiser than you went into it. An example is when you get into an argument with your significant other, you want to win, especially if you get angry. If you’re more verbally fluent than the other person then you can win. One problem is that the other person might see something better than you, but they can’t quite articulate it as well. Always listen because there’s a possibility they’re going to tell you something that will prevent you from running headfirst into a brick wall. This is why Peterson says to listen to your enemies. They will lie about you, but they will also say true things about yourself that your friends won’t. Separate the wheat from the chaff and make your life better. Rule 10: Be Precise in Your Speech: There is some integral connection between communication and reality (or structures of belief as he likes to say). Language takes chaos and makes it into a ‘thing.’ As an example, imagine going through a rough patch in your life where you can’t quite put your finger on what’s wrong. This mysterious thing that’s bothering you—is it real? Yes, if it’s manifesting itself as physical discomfort. Then you talk about it and give it a name, and then this fuzzy, abstract thing turns into a specific thing. Once named, you can now do something about it. The unnameable is far more terrifying than the nameable. As an example, the movie the Blair Witch project didn’t actually name or describe the evil. Nothing happens in the movie, it’s all about the unnameable. If you can’t name something, it means it’s so terrifying to you that you can’t even think about it, and that makes you weaker. This is why Peterson is such a free speech advocate. He wants to bring things out of the realm of the unspeakable. Words have a creative power and you don’t want to create more mark and darkness by imprecise speech. Rule 11: Don’t bother children when they are skateboarding. This is mainly about masculinity. Peterson remembers seeing children doing all kinds of crazy stunts on skateboards and handrails, and believes this is an essential ingredient to develop masculinity, to try to develop competence and face danger. Jordan Peterson considers the act of sliding down a handrail to be brave and perhaps stupid as well, but overall positive. A lot of rebellious behavior in school is often called ‘toxic masculinity,’ but Peterson would say to let them be. An example would be a figure skater that makes a 9.9 on her performance, essentially perfect. Then the next skater that follows her seems to have no hope. But she pushes herself closer to chaos, beyond her competence, and when successful, inspires awe. Judges award her 10’s. She’s gone beyond perfection into the unknown and ennobled herself as well as humanity as well. Rule 12: Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street. This chapter is mainly autobiographical and he writes about tragedy and pain. When tragic things are in front of you and you’re somewhat powerless, you must keep your eyes open for little opportunities that highlight the redemptive elements of life that make it all worthwhile. The title of this chapter comes from his experience of observing a local stray cat, and watching it adapt to the rough circumstances around it. Another thing you must do when life is going to pieces is to shorten your temporal horizon. Instead of thinking in months, you maybe think in hours or minutes instead. You try to just have the best next minute or hour that you can. You shrink the time frame until you can handle it, this is how you adjust to the catastrophe. You try to stay on your feet and think. Although this chapters deals about harsh things, it’s an overall positive one. Always look for what’s meaningful and soul-sustaining even when you’re where you’d rather not be.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2018 by Alex
As cliche as it sounds, this book probably saved my life. Like many who've read this book, I was in a rather dark place. It had been a year since me and my ex-girlfriend broke up, though I was still depressed. I felt sad and resentful, almost bitter all the time, though I could not figure out why for the life of me. I didn't WANT to feel that way. I wanted to feel happy. I mean, I have a career path. I like what I do for work. But I could not help but feel down all the time. I felt meaningless. Until I came across Jordan Peterson and this book. I can't even begin to describe how much this book has helped me to straighten out my life and orient myself towards Meaning. I no longer feel resentful or bitter. I no longer feel pessimistic about the future or have thoughts of suicide...or if I do, it's temporary and passes quickly. After reading this book, I look back on these feelings and realize exactly why I felt that way and how I ended up with those feelings in the first place. The overarching messages of this book are that we should pursue a meaningful life by adopting a sufficient amount of responsibility (not too much so that we become miserable and not too little that our lives are dull), whatever that responsibility may be, and not make our lives needlessly difficult in the process. Jordan Peterson teaches us that the meaning gained by adopting responsibility is worth the effort (chapter 1), and that we can make that effort seem less of a burden by taking care of ourselves (chapter 2), straightening ourselves out (chapters 6-10), and orienting ourselves towards becoming a better person (chapters 3, 4, 7, and 12). Personally, chapters 1, 2, 4, and 6 spoke the most to me and I think that's where Jordan really shines. Unfortunately, this book has received a great deal of criticism and controversy, especially for what Jordan writes in chapter 1. I think the majority of the criticism comes from a combination of misreading and cherry picking. The point of chapter 1, titled "Stand Up Straight With Your Shoulders Back" is to show us that we don't have to live in resentment forever. That is, we don't have to be like Achilles in his tent and shy away from responsibility just because something terrible or tragic has happened in our lives, whether that be the loss of someone close to us, the loss of one's job, the loss of one's relationship, etc. Jordan goes into detail about the behavior of lobsters as a metaphor for why we curl up and sulk after a tragedy. It's a particularly good and effective metaphor because it just so happens that the human nervous system and the lobster nervous system both run on serotonin, which Jordan describes as a mechanism in our brain that tracks our perceived status in society. He's not saying that we should organize our societies along the lines of lobsters (as Cathy Newman stated in an interview with Jordan Peterson). He's saying that there is a BIOLOGICAL reason for the way we feel after a tragedy. It's not because of some pernicious, societal construct. All of this being said, I do see why this criticism exists in the first place and it is in part due to the fact that Jordan tends to elaborate to great depths on points that you won't expect needed such depth in the first place. He also tends to use the same examples for multiple points. For example, you'll see him reference Alexander Solzhenitsyn and The Gulag Archipelago multiple times throughout the book (for good reason, but it does get tedious by the end of the book). Now I personally do not mind the elaboration. I think it's just Jordan's style (you'll definitely see what I mean if you watch any of his Youtube videos). But I do see how this can annoy some people and several reviews on here comment on how, if he simply got to the point, the book could be 1/12th as long (one for each chapter :) ), but to me, it wouldn't be nearly as interesting, engaging, and effective. This book has become very special to me and I am very thankful to have read it. If you are reading this review and are in a dark place and have chosen to do something about your resentment towards life, read this book. You don't have to suffer any more. You don't have to wonder why you feel so down all the time. This isn't about converting you to a religion and getting you to believe in something. It's about living a meaningful life.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2020 by Josh Yoskowitz
Format: Kindle
I took about a month to finish Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, in part because I wanted to slow down and try some of the advice in my life. 12 Rules for Life is an interesting book. Equal parts philosophy, psychology, and self-help book, it covers a broad range of topics, with Peterson drawing from life experiences, religion, and history to build a strong case for his points and provide what seems on its surface to be very good advice for people. This is where Peterson's background as a clinical psychologist comes in handy. 12 Rules for Life is billed as an "antidote to chaos", and that is what its primary focus is. It's not great at helping you be more successful if you're disciplined and self-reliant already. As someone who always struggled with grasping the world, however, I found it very helpful. Since I started reading this book, I lost 12 pounds, went from writing five hundred words a day to three thousand words a day, started waking up earlier in the morning consistently, and have been much happier. Some of that is attributable to the fact that I was already willing to make changes, and many of the things I was doing were obviously bad ideas. But there is something to be said for the lessons Peterson teaches. They are complicated, sometimes a little indirect, and mired in allegory. This makes them more valuable, if anything. Peterson doesn't use a magic formula, he uses principles of right action. This book provides general ideas and positions that can serve as a great tool to understanding how people think and why things go wrong. Not everyone will agree with it. There is a chapter in the book where Peterson reflects on the fact that he has opportunities with clients where he could tell them one thing or another and their minds would make it to be total truth either way. Perhaps that is what Peterson has done here: perhaps most systems like this are sufficient to improve lives if brought diligently into practice. Or perhaps there is something to Peterson's words. His indictment of meaninglessness and his calls to purpose echo soundly throughout the book. There have been those who say that Peterson's calls for people to get themselves organized and his oft-mystical language is a cover for something sinister. But I don't think they've ever really listened to him. Approaching Peterson a skeptic, I was not sure that reading a book would have the power to change anything in my life. The first few chapters were met with nods, hesitancy, and the concession of points that sounded good. I wasn't hostile to him, and I found many of his points quite clever. But when Peterson delved deeper into the archetypes and depth psychology I became suspicious. I had a moderate distrust of the Jungian method; I use it to teach literature, but I did not believe in using archetypes to assess personality. Peterson's point is that we are all part of something great and interconnected. Because it is so massive, we need to be working to make sense of it. It won't happen automatically, and if we go for an easy explanation we may find ourselves walking dark, treacherous paths of misanthropy and rejection. We are complicated pieces in an even more complicated puzzle. Peterson's approach is one of self improvement. When we take steps to sort ourselves out, we also need to enter a symbiotic process of bringing order to our world. The purpose of this is not to achieve some sort of superiority. It is to achieve survival. The world will change, and we will be forced to adapt. Peterson states that "life is tragic." His point is that people need to be ready to deal with adversity. Anyone can handle good times, because that's what we are able to rest and relax during. The true test of a person comes when they lose a loved one or a job or their health. They need to make a decision: what will they do in response. Peterson uses haunting examples to illustrate what happens when this goes wrong. Using everything from Dostoevsky to the Soviet Union (and countless other insights from modern and historical figures), he creates case studies of what happens when things go wrong and people turn to dysfunction rather than improving their situation. His 12 Rules serve as a guide on how to go from that point of failure to a point of redemption, offering a series of suggestions and guidelines to take a life that is becoming corrupted by hatred of the world and everything in it and turn it into a vessel for growth and self-improvement. Is it a perfect guide to living life? No. Is it helpful? Does it give insight to great truths? Yes.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2018 by Kyle Willey
Format: Kindle
Pursue what is meaningful, not merely what is immediately expedient. Stand up straight and face the world with courage and confidence. Get your own life in order before you go out and try to save the world. Treat yourself like a person whom you are responsible for. Tell the truth. These incredibly obvious pieces of advice are some of the aphorisms found in one of the biggest selling books of the moment: Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life. The success of the book and the “academic rock star” status it’s author has achieved recently suggest just how far we have gone off track in teaching the young about life, when such aphorisms come as revelations to many. Still, 12 Rules for Life is a very good book, and one that many people could benefit from reading. Peterson, who has a vast network of followers on YouTube, is predominately attracting a younger male audience, and I suspect that the book will appeal mostly to them. I see his influence as being a positive development in the evolution of masculinity, as I argued in a recent blog post. Even I, as an older male, found much of value in the book. And women of any age could easily benefit from it as well. One theme that runs through the book is that we need to teach responsibility to children by setting appropriate boundaries. We also need to let them play and explore the world, to make their own mistakes. Now, given that so many of us adults had deficient parenting, we must teach ourselves such practical wisdom. Contained within many of the author’s points are fascinating anecdotes and specific, practical applications. Peterson tells stories gleaned from his own life experience, as well as from his experience as a clinical psychologist. There is a lot of history to draw from. The tales keep the text alive, much as with his online videos. Jordan Peterson’s background as a psychologist influences his teachings. He draws upon biology and evolutionary theory to help explicate many of his points. He famously compares human neurophysiology to that of the lobster, while making the point that we exist in hierarchies that are at least partly explicable as evolutionary patterns. His advice is then to “stand up straight”, following the example of the body language of dominant lobsters. But Peterson is no biological determinist, as his online videos show. He’s simply acknowledging that we humans are not merely ghosts in biological machines, whereby free will and culture determine all behavior. Jordan Peterson draws from many religious and spiritual traditions to clarify and expand his insights, but most frequently from Christianity. One aspect of the book which I found challenging to navigate is the frequent biblical narratives. Using a Jungian approach (Joseph Campbell, if you prefer), some chapters in the book ramble a little, and could be made shorter. The connectivity between some points also sometimes seems unclear. Yet that could have been because I read quickly. Having said this, the biblical allusions Peterson uses have reopened my mind to the Christian tradition. In mainstream, non-ecclesiastical circles, Christianity is often looked upon negatively. On the political left, it is typically criticized and distained, often at levels which would be termed bigoted if such scorn was directed at any other religion. Perhaps a more balanced perspective is required, lest we jettison entirely a formative wisdom tradition which has helped define us. Peterson is a Christian, just not a fundamentalist one. He has made the valid point that much of the thinking and values which underpin western thought and legal structures are Christian. Many of the stories in The Bible, including the idea of God, are thus archetypal. They are deeply imbedded within our psyches, even if we do not identity as Christian. Still, it may take some degree of self-discipline for some to wade through the religious mythology. In my opinion, a fair assessment of 12 Rules to Life and Peterson’s teachings should negate any fear of an impending Nazi apocalypse. The book is not heavily political, making only brief diversions into politics and ideology. One reason why I feel he can be relied upon to responsibly mediate the current cultural divide is that Peterson is an advocate of introspection and shadow work – looking within the psyche to honestly acknowledge what lies within, no matter how dark. His book lays this ideal down clearly. We are all capable of descending into that darkness, and we must be vigilant to avoid the fate. Such honest introspection is precisely what is often missing from progressivism today, largely because it has established an attitude of moral superiority over opposing voices. This is one reason why it has betrayed many of its founding principles, and is often intolerant and authoritarian. Western society has set far too many men adrift, chronically shaming males and defining masculinity via its pathological expression. 12 Rules for Life may help many men to find confidence and direction amidst this extreme turn. And for that we should greatly thank him. Of course, given the huge amount of publicity Peterson’s media appearances have generated, there are potential downsides to all this. Peterson has become a father figure to many, as well as spiritual mentor. This is occuring in the context of a society which has severely shamed masculinity and devalued fatherhood. Relating to Peterson’s paternal qualities is a healthy development if expressed responsibly. Yet it seems to me that some of his followers are projecting far too much responsibility onto Peterson for their lives. I call this “giving away your power.” It is a common issue in spiritual circles. Indeed, I would say that it is almost a universal phase of personal and spiritual development. I am no exception, and gave my own power away to one or two spiritual and psychological guides as a younger man. Still, it is to be hoped that those who do this will quickly pass through the phase and assume greater responsibility for their lives. After all, taking responsibility is a central theme in Peterson’s teachings. In 12 Rules for Life, Peterson implores us to focus our intent, to find meaningful work and self-work in order to help make the world a better place. For that is the best way that we can move forward and develop lives of power and purpose. He does not promise utopia. He merely suggests that personal responsibility, meaning and purpose should form a central part of the life journey, regardless of the outcome. And who can argue with that? 12 Rules for Life is imperfect, but I highly recommend it. It contains much wisdom and thought-provoking philosophy from one of the most courageous and influential thinkers of our time. Marcus T Anthony, PhD, author of Discover Your Soul Template
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Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2018 by Marcus T Anthony, PhD
I ordered this book because I've learned so much during the past few years from Peterson's class lectures on YouTube. So i thought, "well, it would be nice to have a printed summary or synthesis of those lectures." What I got was so much more! This is not a superficial gloss by Peterson on what he's been saying in those lectures. Neither is it in the least bit superficial. Yes, it synthesizes into "rules" a lot of his suggestions about how anyone of any age (my "young" days are long past) can make their future better for themselves, for their loved ones, and for society. (And never in my life has there been a time when such advice was more desperately needed.) So if you've listened to his YouTube posts you've heard a lot of that, although not brought together in his coherent a fashion. But these are embedded in a surprisingly wide-ranging discussion, informed by his deep understanding of psychology, philosophy, and literature, that is deeply thoughtful, at times funny (who knew Peterson could be funny?), sometimes moving (his account of his daughter's serious illness in "Rule 12" is heartbreaking and inspiring all at the same time), and laced with real substance. This substrate is an outgrowth of ideas he covers in his lectures on personality, mythic narratives, and biblical story. But he has clearly worked very hard to make this material, which adds enormous depth and richness to the book, as accessible as he can. Yes, parts of the book will require slow, thoughtful reading to get the most out of it: but why is that a bad thing? Why should a book with so much to offer be a quick bedtime read? (It is nowhere near as demanding as his earlier book Maps of Meaning.) Once I realized that this was way more than a "self-help book" (its somewhat unfortunate title notwithstanding), I raced through it in a marathon reading session. Peterson's conviction, clarity, passion for his material, and deep concern for the future well being of his readers pulls you through the book like you were tethered to a freight train. A day or so afterward I set about reading the book again, slowly, a chapter at a time, writing about what I was reading as I went along. And I got way more out of it. Read slowly, one realizes how much effort he has put into every single paragraph (I later learned that he spent five years on this book). I couldn't help but wish I had had this book 40 or so years ago. But then I realized: that's stupid; I've got it now and man, am I grateful. About politics: Peterson has become much more visible in the public sphere during the last year, and because of his view of life and how to live it and because he is far from the liberal left and because he has taken on political correctness and identity politics in defense of freedom of speech (and lots of other things), he has been caricatured and misrepresented and his ideas have been attacked and grossly distorted by people who have everything to gain by keeping everyone else docile and, in his word, "pathetic." But this is not a book of political advocacy; I disagree with several of Peterson's political views, but they have nothing to do with this book or why I think it's so valuable. So I urge anyone who is remotely interested in the subject matter to dismiss whatever you're heard or read about the controversy surrounding Peterson or his politics and just read the book. Make up your own mind. And if you know young people, men or women, who are in crisis or lost or desperate or hopeless or teetering on the brink of nihilism or some terribly self-destructive behavior, get another copy and give it to them. Now. If they are unlikely to read it, get them the Audio-book. Whatever. This book could help them turn their lives around, could improve their future as well as the future of people they will come in contact with and maybe even of our very troubled society. And what greater gift could you give to a young person? It's the gift Peterson has given to all of us.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2018 by Michael
Format: Kindle
"Clean your room," has become a mantra for a generation of lost kids who finally found a male figure in the culture to look up to. Jordan B. Peterson has become something of a Millennial Messiah in the most unusual way. He's telling people to take on responsibility and to blame only themselves if their life isn't the way they want it. This book is a condensed version of his tome "Maps of Meaning", a much longer philosophical tract on how the myths and stories humanity passed down over the centuries influence our values. It's obvious that the last generation's drive to give out participation trophies and to tell everyone that the evil system is to blame for all your ills (think of the hippies going against "the man") no longer resonates. Millennials and younger people today are under a lot of pressure. They're deep in student loan debt, they're having trouble finding jobs that pay well, they're getting married and owning homes at lower rates because they're not secure enough financially to settle down. This could make you feel deeply powerless if you were trying to blame the system. Just look on TV at every late night host talking about how hopeless and stupid our country is right now. Jordan Peterson comes with a different message- start by cleaning your own personal room. Stop blaming other people, and get your own life in order. You can't expect to see change in the world, unless you first change yourself. Rule 1 is a great example. The basic gist is to stand up straight and face the world with your head held high- literally, not just metaphorically. Famously, Peterson looks at lobsters. Lobsters have a dominance hierarchy where they constantly fight. When a lobster loses a fight, it skulks around and lowers itself to become smaller and less threatening. If you give the lobster a drug to fix its serotonin levels- the same rewards system present in most every animal brain- the lobsters picks itself back up and goes right back to fighting. Human evolution diverged from the lobster millions of years ago, and yet we can see that even they have dominance hierarchies and societal struggle and depression. It is therefore ludicrous to think that human suffering is only a "social construct" as today's academics would have you believe. These feelings are naturally built-in to our nervous system. If we want to feel better we need to pick ourselves up and "get some pep in our step" as a previous generation might have said. The whole book is like that. A blend of science, folksy wisdom, and tales from Peterson's own life and career. From working as a dish washer to a lumber mill worker to a clinical psychologist, Peterson has seen all of humanity. His conclusions are profound, yet immediately relatable. He covers the topics at all levels of analysis- from philosophy, to statistics, to evolution, to straight up humor. Peterson's critics are having a hilariously hard time trying to downplay this book. In a famous interview, a BBC host asked Peterson if he was suggesting that we should structure our society like that of the lobster. If you're that philosophically inept or that malicious trying to slam this guy, then enjoy your life, there's little I can do to try and hold a conversation with you. In case anyone's confused- nobody's saying we should structure our society like the lobster. There's an ancient philosophical debate about "is" versus "ought". Peterson wrote this book about how the world is. The human nervous system is made in such a way that depressive factors snowball until it's hard to dig yourself out, so feelings like resentment only make things worse. This says nothing about ought- nobody's saying that we're happy the human nervous system ought to be this way nor is anyone saying that societal progress ought to revert to some crude pre-historic state. The "is" and "ought" are two different topics. If you want to lead a better life in the world that is, read this book. If you'd rather fret about what ought to be, have fun with that. If you can manage to keep those concepts straight, this book's for you. Especially if you are- or are close to- a young male in the millennial group who's struggling to face the society we find ourselves in today, this book is for you. The book reads well for any person, but the millennial male group are most powerfully affected by Peterson's work for obvious reasons. Young men have biological drives toward duty and responsibility that currently aren't fulfilled in their school, home, or professional lives. Anyone can benefit from this book- so the fact that one group needs it most should tell you something. This book is powerful, timely, and profound. Give it a read.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2018 by Providential
This is a lovely and important book. It pulls no punches but it offers much hope. It is exactly what it purports to be: a self-help book that explores 12 general rules for living. Its author has become a cultural star, beginning with a large internet/youtube presence that has been extended to major television appearances and, now, a commercial lecture tour. By trade, JP is an academic and a clinical psychologist. In his writing he draws on the insights of contemporary neuroscience and on the traditions of literature and philosophy. Note that there are blurbs on the book jacket from Camille Paglia and the National Review. Paglia is a traditional/traditionalist academic who is thoroughly conversant with the myth/ritual criticism that undergirds part of JP's argument. It was once dominant in English studies and it was associated in particular with the work of another great Canadian academic, Northrop Frye. Paglia, like JP, utilizes references to popular culture to reinforce the myths and archetypes which have shaped our explicit beliefs as well as our 'collective unconscious' (JP is a Jungian, not a Freudian). The National Review, of course, is our leading conservative journal of opinion and while JP easily talks to those on the left such as Bill Maher his bottom-line recommendations are thoroughly conservative. His view of human life is 'tragic' or 'Augustinian'. We are fallen human beings who have been exiled from Eden and now are doomed to suffer in innumerable ways. We live in Hobbes's world, not Rousseau's (JP pillories Rousseau) and we will survive in this world if we are strong, kind, vigilant, independent, God-fearing and conscientious. Our lives are a battle between order and chaos and we must stand for order. The order/chaos dyad is explored at length. The book is very nicely written, completely lucid, characterized by occasional humor and appropriate personal anecdotes. It reads very quickly. The style is not so much one of 'free association' as it is the extended dilation on core principles. The principle is articulated, examples adduced and reflections added. These reflections continue across the paragraphs. Some will say that every word is precious; some will say that the book could be cut significantly, but the bottom line is that the strength of such books as these lies in the fact that the core notions can be clearly articulated. We then enjoy the expansions upon them. Boswell once said that his journal was like 'portable soup'. We would say 'instant soup' or 'powdered soup'. The core realities are then expanded with boiled water so that the basic 'record' is expanded, extended, 'thought about', 'reflected on' and so forth. This book is now one of the important artefacts of our culture and the thrust of its arguments might be a significant historical indicator. Highly recommended.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2018 by Richard B. Schwartz